MCALL: Weather can't stop Hamilton Post 31

HAMILTON — Hamilton had its string of well-played baseball games interrupted, but not completely halted, by the weather.

After two straight rainouts, Post 31 returned and played another solid game in defeating North Hamilton, 6-1, in a Mercer County American Legion League game at Steinert Wednesday night.

PJ Wiegartner allowed two hits and a run over five innings, while Chris Geraci and Austin Constantini finished with one hitless inning each. Wiegartner helped his cause with two hits, two RBI and a run scored, while Matt Ricci had two hits, two RBI and a run.

“We wanted to keep playing,” Wiegartner said. “But especially early tonight we looked refreshed from these last couple of days off. Not that we were dragging from the last couple of games but when you know you’re gonna play ten games in ten days it’s in the back of your mind that it’s gonna wear on you physically and mentally. So those couple days really refreshed us.”

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Hamilton (20-8, 16-7 MCALL) has won four straight and has gone 18-5 since slipping to 2-3 on June 10. It has won nine of its last 11 league games and the two losses were by one run each to Bordentown and Robbinsville.

With one game remaining against South Brunswick Thursday, Post 31 likes where it’s at as the state district tournament begins Saturday.

“These guys don’t get too high or too low, they just play and that’s the good thing about them,” manager Rick Freeman said. “They rebound from losses, they come back the next day not too high after wins. The last three or four weeks they’ve really showed us a lot. They’re playing good baseball.”

Although playing at Steinert, Hamilton was visiting team as the game was switched from Trenton Catholic. Post 31 took a 1-0 lead in the first when Constantini singled and Wiegartner singled him home.

North Hamilton, which finished a tough season at 6-20, got its first hit on Steven Agoglia’s two-out single in the fourth. The Hibernians got their only run in the fifth when Rich Knappenberger scored on a double steal with Joe Garey.

Stefan Nyktas did a stellar job in relief but the Hibernians could not close the gap. North Hamilton got its first two runners on against Geraci in the sixth before he bore down to get the next three outs and Constantini struck out the side after issuing a leadoff walk.

Although Hamilton was playing well before leaving for Binghamton, N.Y. for its annual July 4th tournament, Plunkett feels his team is playing even better since returning.

“The games we lost when we came back were some real tough games, they were anybody’s games,” the centerfielder said. “Even the game up there (a 13-11 loss). Every time we go up there we have fun as a team and it really brings the camaraderie together and we come back playing better. That’s kind of where it’s at right now.

“We’re real excited for districts. We didn’t think we had our best time last year but we look like we’ve got a good team this year and we want to give it a good run.”

If they keep up their current level of play, that shouldn’t be a problem.